Megadog Beach Festival, Sat, Sun

The now bearded and bespectacled Ringo (right) will be running through his solo hits, Beatles favourites and material from his new Vertical Man album at this one-off show. He's joined by such rock'n'roll luminaries as bass-player Jack Bruce and guitarist Peter Frampton who, along with Gary Brooker (Procol Harum), Simon Kirke (Free, Bad Company) and Mark Rivera (Billy Joel's band) make up the All-Starrs.

FORMER members of the Beatles and Yoko Ono began a legal action yesterday to try to recover an amateur recording of them playing in Hamburg 36 years ago.

IT'S A very good hair day for Leo Sayer, the Seventies singing sensation who wowed the UK with hits such as "You Make Me Feel like Dancing" and "When I Need You" and who is now making a comeback.

On 24 January 1968, the London Sinfonietta burst fully formed from the belly of `The Whale', when a 24-year-old David Atherton conducted the world premiere of an anarchic new `cantata' - soon to be recorded by The Beatles' Apple label, complete with guest appearance by Ringo Starr (on loud-hailer) - by a 23-year-old John Tavener. Tonight, 30 years and 119 world premieres later, the Sinfonietta reprises that pioneering piece by a composer whose closing hymn for Princess Diana's funeral service has now made him a household name the world over. Here, Malcolm Hayes talks to Tavener and others who played a part in that historic first night in 1968.

john lichfield the south of france

Roll over, Elvis. Another king of rock'n'roll headed for heaven in '77 - Marc Bolan. And 20 years later, his memory lives on

Rosy Feiler of Montvale, New Jersey, has a question for Sir Paul McCartney: does he wear boxer shorts or briefs? "Lonesome" Larry Smith of Camberwell, south London, wants to know which McCartney song works best for getting a girl into the back seat of a car.

Such is the power of celebrity. Ringo Starr's birthplace is little more than a shack: corrugated iron covers the doors, the roof leaks and the toilet is smashed - but English Heritage said yesterday the derelict Liverpool terrace house could become a listed building.

Morethan pounds 800,000 was raised by the first international auction of Beatles memorabilia yesterday as Japanese bidders pushed prices for mementoes of the Fab Four to new heights.

Skywalking stars

The house at 9 Madryn Street in the Dingle in Liverpool where the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was born may well fetch half as much again as other houses on a run-down inner-city block, but not as much as Sir Paul McCartney's birth certificate. This historical document has been given a reserve price twice as high as Ringo's birthplace at a Bonham's auction of Beatles memorabilia in Tokyo next weekend. Even if it is a bargain, the National Trust is unlikely to bid for Ringo's birthplace to add to its Liverpool collection, begun two years ago with the purchase for pounds 50,000 of 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, where Sir Paul was born and the Fab Four wrote their first single. (It was "Love Me Do".) The trust's preference for Paul over Ringo is a good example of relative values.

From road studs to textbooks, if a Beatle so much as glanced at them, reports Fiona Sturges, they're worth something

Thomas the Tank Engine steamed to a 29.5p premium yesterday as dealings began in the shares of Britt Allcroft, which owns the television and video rights to the children's favourite, writes Tom Stevenson.